Jordan Chiles flaunts Olympic medal in New Year’s post amid ongoing appeal over loss of bronze to Romania
Team USA and gymnast Jordan Chiles she didn’t let the stripping of her Olympic bronze medal stop them from showing off her team gold on Tuesday.
In a New Year’s announcement to celebrate the medals won by the USA at Olympic Games in Paris this year, the team included a photo of Chiles holding the gold medal she and her American teammates won in the women’s team event. Chiles was the only gymnast included in the collage.
Chiles reposted the photo on her personal Instagram later Tuesday.
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Jordan Chiles of the United States is congratulated by teammate Simone Biles (L) of the United States after she dramatically won the bronze medal on the reversal after the women’s floor final during the artistic gymnastics competition at the Bercy Arena during the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics on August 5 2024 in Paris, France. (Mehmet Murat Onel/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The 23-year-old gymnast is currently involved in an appeal against the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision which dropped her from third place in the event to fifth in the women’s floor exercise final.
Romania’s Ana Barbosu initially got the better of Chiles after the American finished her routine. Then, at the request of the American coach, the umpires reviewed the video, changed the score and threw Chiles to third, which caused initial controversy and a fierce reaction from the Romanians.
The decision to give the medal to Chiles instead resulted in the first All-Black podium in Olympic gymnastics history, as she joined teammate Simone Biles and Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade.
But then, on the final day of the Olympics, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that Chiles’ appeal was filed after the one-minute time limit had expired, and changed her score to drop her back to fifth place. The next day, August 11, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided that Chiles must return the medal.
However, after the Olympics ended in August, USA Today reported that Chiles and the rest of the U.S. Olympic team had “no intention” of returning the medal, since they continue to appeal the decision of the IOC.
Chiles’ lawyers argued that her coach had indeed submitted the request on time and that there was video evidence to prove it, and also indicated that the official who made the decision to strip Chiles of the medal was connected to Romania.
“Chiles is asking the Supreme Court to find that the CAS decision was procedurally deficient for two reasons,” Chiles’ lawyers said in a statement, according to at Olympics.com.
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Team USA, left to right, Jordan Chiles, Hezly Rivera, Jade Carey, Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee pose for photos after competing in the women’s gymnastics qualification round at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024 ., to Paris, France. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
“First, CAS violated Chiles’ fundamental ‘right to be heard’ by refusing to consider video evidence that showed her query was sent on time – in direct contradiction to the findings in the CAS decision.
“Secondly, the entire CAS process was unfair because Chiles was not properly informed that Hamid G. Gharavi, the president of the CAS panel that annulled Chiles’ bronze medal and awarded it instead to a Romanian gymnast, was in a serious conflict of interest: Mr. Gharavi acted as Romania’s counsel for almost a decade and actively represented Romania at the time of the CAS arbitration.”
Chiles also appealed to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court to overturn the CAS decision. She claimed that she was not given a fair chance to defend herself and that the CAS did not properly consider the video evidence.
Chiles and her teammates spoke openly about the emotional toll the loss of a medal took on her in the months after the Olympics ended.
Chiles gave her first interview about the incident this week during a panel at Forbes Power Women’s Summit In September 2024, the gymnast choked up and cried when asked about the topic.
“For me, everything that happened wasn’t because of the medal, it was because of, you know, the color of my skin,” Chiles said.
Chiles previously claimed she faced “racially motivated attacks” from social media users in a statement posted on X on August 15. When Chiles won the bronze medal, it resulted in the first gymnastics podium in Olympic history with three black competitors.
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Team USA’s Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles pose with their Paris 2024 Olympic medals after the women’s floor exercise final in artistic gymnastics on day 10 of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Bercy Arena on August 5, 2024 in Paris, France. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
“It’s about the fact that there were things that led to this position as an athlete and I felt like everything was laid bare.”
The controversy sparked international scrutiny of the judges judging the event. The Center for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) released a joint statement on August 15 condemning the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the judging panel for the outcome.
“Had the FIG put such a mechanism or arrangement in place, much pain would have been avoided,” CAS’s ad hoc commission said in a statement. “The commission expresses its hope that the FIG will draw the consequences of this case, in relation to these three outstanding athletes, as well as for other athletes and their support staff, in the future, so that this never happens again.”
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